Refrigerator-door-operating mechanism



W. A. GEIGER.

REFRIGERATOR DOOR OPERATING MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 16, 1918.

Patented Mar. 29 1921.,

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ATTORNE I UNETEE STATES FATENT cornice.

WILLIAM A. GEIGER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIG-NOR T0 WILLIME H. MINER, 03F

CHAZY, NEW YORK.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 29, 1921.

Application filed February 16, 1918. Serial Ito. 217,522.

To all whom it may concern;

Be it known that I, VVILLIAM A. GEIGER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Refrigerator-Door- Operating Mechanism, of which the following is a full, clear, concise, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification.

This invention relates to improvements in refrigerator door operating mechanism.

In the operation of refrigerator cars, it frequently happens that it is desirable to maintain the car tightly sealed at the doors when the car is passing through certain sections of the country and at other times to leave the side doors partly open in order to permit a circulation of air through the car when the latter is passing through other portions of the country. In other words, it is desirable to have the car sealed at some times and open or ventilated at other times when the same commodity is being transferred from a warm to a cold climate or vice versa, the variable conditions depending upon the weather changes and the commodity being transported.

The object of my invention is to provide a simple arrangement of door operating mechanism for refrigerator cars by which mechanism the doors may be either forced to entirely closed and sealed position or may be positively held-in such a position as to leave a vent or opening between the meeting edges of the doors to thereby permit circulation of air through the doors.

Another and more specific object of the invention is to provide a door operating mechanism of the type above indicated wherein the shaft for closing and opening the doors may be positively held in any desired position and thereby the position of the door positively maintained. 7

In the drawings forming a part of this specification, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a portion of a refrigeratorcar showing my improvements in connection therewith. Fig. 2 is an enlarged, horizontal, sectional view, taken substantially on the line 22 of Fig. 1. In this figure, the full lines indicatethe positions of the doors and associated parts when the doors are in fully closed or sealed position and the dotted lines indicate the position of one of the doors when the car is adapted for ventilation through the doors. And Fig. 3 is a detail, sectional view, taken substantially on the line 33 of Fig. 1 and upon a somewhat enlarged scale.

In said drawings, the car is shown as provided with a door frame 10 and two pivoted doors l1 and 12 having meeting beveled edges 1n the usual manner. As is customary in refrigerator cars, insulation or packing 1313 13 employed between the meeting edges of the doors and car frame and between the meeting edges of the doors themselves, but inasmuch as the form or character of the insulation forms no part of my invention, the same need not be described in detail.

I have shown my improved operating mechanism as combined with a well known type of door closing and openin shaft. As shown, the door operatlng s aft 14 is mounted in suitable bearings 15-15 at the top and bottom of the pivoted door 12, said door 12 being the last one to be closed, as

clearly shown in Fig. 2. A supplemental central bearing 16 may be provided for the shaft 14. At each end, the shaft 14: is provided with a crank-arm 17 adapted to engage and' cooperate with a keeper 18 secured to the door frame adjacent the door opening. ""lEagh of said keepers 18 is provided with an inclined slot or double-acting cam 19 so that, as the shaft 14 is rotated with the crank-arm 17 within said slots 19, the door 12 will be positively forced either to closed position or open position, dependent upon the direction of rotation.

To efiect the rotation of the shaft 14, 1 provide an operating handle or lever 20 which is adapted to be seated over a pin 21 carried by the door 11 and through the latter is applied the usual lead seal 22. At its inner end, the lever 20 is provided with a hexagonal or other non-circular section form of loop 23' which fits a correspondingly formed section 24 in the shaft 14, as clearly shown in Figs. 2 and 3. The loop 23. ofthe lever is slidable up and down the shaft 14 and is limited in its downward-movement by any suitable means such as the cross pin 25.

When the lever 20 is applied to the shaft 14: in the position shown 1n Fig. 2 in full lines, it is evident that the door 12 will be forced to fully closed or sealed position and will be held there so long as the lever 20 is confined on the pin 21 by the seal 22. In other words, I operate the shaft 1 1 to close the door and open it in the usual manner.

When, however, it is desired to hold. the

the non-circular section so that, when the lever 20 is rotated to the position indicated by the dotted lines 120 in Fig. 2, that is, when the lever fits over the pm 21 and is sealed thereon, the shaft 14: will have been only partially rotated. This will leave the door 12 partly open, as shown in Fig. 2, and due to the positive non-rotatable connection between the lever 20 and the shaft 14: on the one hand, and the positive engagement of the crank-arms 17 with the keepers 18 on the other hand, said door 12 will be firmlyheld in its partly open position so long as the lever 20 remains under seal. This arrangement will, of course, permit air to circulate through the doors when it is desired and it is obvious that the position of the lever 20 on the shaft 14 can be shifted whenever desired but in no event can the position of the parts be changed while the lever 20 is under seal. This latter consideration is of extreme importance since it prevents any malicious tampering with the con tents of the car without leaving visual evidence thereof.

Althou h ll have herein shown and described w at ll now consider the preferred aevaeei manner of carrying out the invention, the

same is merely illustrative and I contemplate such changes and modifications as come within the scope of the claim appended hereto.

1 claim:

In a door operating mechanism for cars adapted to be used interchangeably as a sealed refrigerator or ventilated car, the combination with the car body having a door opening anda pivoted door therefor; of an operating shaft rotatably mounted on said door and having an end thereof extended beyond one edge of the door to cooperate with the keeper; a keeper mounted on the car body and cooperable with said extended end of the shaft in controlling the position of the door when the latter is in or approximately in closed position; a handle for rotating said shaft, said handle having one end thereof telescoped over the shaft, said telescoped end and the shaft having cooperating non-circular interfitted portions so arranged that angular adjustment of thehandle relatively to the shaft may be made and a relatively fixed relation therebetween maintained in any adjusted position; and

vmeans, cooperable with said handle to lock it always in the same way when the door is either in closed or approximately closed position, whereby said door may be locked either in fully closed sealed osition or in nearly closed ventilating position.

In Witness that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto subscribed my name this 7th day of Feb. 1918.

WILLMM A. GEIGER. 

